#emdgp35

Sling Shot

In the mid- to late-1970s, the ICG was able to negotiate a deal where they ran this train with a single unit, and I suppose a two-man crew. I believe these trains, known as the "sling shot", ran between Chicago and East St. Louis.

We're on the former Alton/GM&O, which was part of the Illinois Central Gulf at the time; the location is Shirley, Illinois. The locomotive is an EMD GP35 built in March of 1965. (And while not visible here, GM&O GP35s ran on Alco trucks.)

Great Lakes Central Traverse City Turn, Part One

About midday I heard the train in town, and ran off to see if I could chase it. I caught up with it after it had picked up an empty at the lumber yard at Bates, near Williamsburg, Michigan. The first image shows the diminutive train at Lautner Road, east of Acme while the second and third shows if off the East Arm of Grand Traverse Bay. The final image was made at Holiday Road, east of Traverse City.

The Great Lakes Central runs over rails of several former railroads, but this section is a portion of the Pere Marquette. The locomotive is a former Ann Arbor unit, an EMD GP35 built in 1964. While the train is running long-hood forward here, it will reverse when it switches back over to the former Grand Rapids & Indiana (Pennsylvania) branch which it will negotiate back to Walton Junction.

Toledo, Peoria & Western Railway

The TP&W, sometimes called the Tip-Up by those in the business, has roots dating back to antebellum times. Later, as I understand it, the road became a bridge line between the Pennsylvania Railroad (at Effner, Illinois, on the state line with Indiana) and the Santa Fe (at Lomax, Illinois). Its western terminus was across the Mississippi River, at Keokuk, Iowa.

In any case, here are some interesting and intriguing locomotives seen in East Peoria during the latter half of the 1970s—numbers 205 and 202 are both Alco RS2s, number 400 is an Alco RS11, number 900 is an EMD GP35, number 800 is an Alco C424, and lastly number 902 is another EMD GP35—with Alco trucks no less.

Great Lakes Central Traverse City Turn, Part One

About midday I heard the train in town, and ran off to see if I could chase. I caught up with it after it had picked up an empty at the lumber yard near Williamsburg.

The Great Lakes Central runs over rails of several former railroads, but this section is Pere Marquette. The locomotive is a former Ann Arbor unit, an EMD GP35 built in 1964.

Great Lakes Central Traverse City Turn, Part Two

Continuing on from my previous post, we now see our diminutive train rolling along the East Arm of Grand Traverse Bay.

The line here is former Pere Marquette—it’s easy to see how the road made money in the early part of the 20th century bringing passengers up from Chicago to scenic northern Michigan. In this sequence we get a good look at the Alco trucks on which the GP35 rides—probably trade ins from Ann Arbor FAs.

Great Lakes Central Traverse City Turn, Part Three

Continuing on from my previous two posts, the TC Turn is now getting ready to cross Holiday Road, east of Traverse City.

While the train is running long-hood forward here, it will reverse when it switches back over to the former Grand Rapids & Indiana (Pennsylvania) branch back to Walton Junction.

West Point, Mississippi

Here we see a northbound Illinois Central Gulf job switching in West Point, Mississippi—that’s the old City Hall clock tower one sees in the first image. This was seen along the former Gulf, Mobile & Ohio line in town and I believe these images were made at East Morrow Street.

West Point had three railroads in all—the Columbus & Greenville, the Illinois Central, as well as the Gulf, Mobile & Ohio. While this particular line is extant on either side of town, the tracks have been removed within the downtown area itself.

This railroad was one of my favorites, and I recall being pleased to see all GM&O power on this train of what was then the ICG.

The B&O in Southern Indiana—Part One

Over the next three posts I will show some images I took along the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad in Southern Indiana back in 1976. This is a line that stretches between Cincinnati and St. Louis; at this point the line is rarely used, perhaps for local service, at best.

The first two images were made east of Michell, Indiana—near the tiny town of Tunnelton, and then a bit further west off Buddha Road. While these two were made with color transparency film, I must have run out and switched to black & white negative film for the remainder (being a broke teenager).

I caught up with the train in Mitchell and was able to shoot it at the west end of the siding from the N. Teke Burton Drive Overpass. The penultimate image was made with the train approaching Georgia Siding, west of Mitchell, while the final picture was taken a mile and a half east of Loogootee, Indiana, from the Highway 150 Overpass.

The lead unit, in the colorful Chessie System scheme, B&O 3546, is an EMD GP35 that was built in July of 1964. The following units are of the Southern Pacific run-through power: an SD40 and a GE U-boat.